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Archive | September 2014

Today, September 30th is a wonderful day for me! It was 9 years ago today that I received my double lung transplant. I am joyful and so very grateful for the chance I was given to live on. It is a day of deep gratitude for the family of my lung donor and my lung donor himself! It is also a day of thought and sadness that a family lost their loved one. How do you thank someone who has given you the chance to live???

It reminds me of a Psalm: How can I make a return to the Lord, for all the good he has done for me?

I think of my donor ~ what did he look like, what did he love and not love, did he have a wife or children??? Did he laugh lots and love more? Who were his favorite sports teams and what did he do for fun??? These are all questions that perhaps one day I will find the answer to. But, if I don’t I can be sure that when I pass from this world I will meet him and give him my great thanks!

All I know about my donor is that he was a 29 year old male. I received the lungs from the Charleston West Virginia Hospital. I will be sending another letter to the donor family after a bit time has passed since the date of his death to let them know that the lungs I breathe with were his lungs and that I share a love for him.

I am reposting this from Purpose Fairy (www.purposefairy.com) because this article is me over and over. I am in the process now of de-cluttering my home of all the unnecessary things like books, articles, nick-knacks, etc. It is way past time to clear it out and have a very peaceful room to write and work in.

Thanks to Luminita and this wonderful article. . .

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“Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.” ~ Wendell Berry

You know what I recently noticed? That I am no longer attached to material things like I used to be.

There was a time when, because I was attached to every little thing that I possessed, I would get so mad whenever someone would take my things, use them and at times break them. And oh my, all the drama that was created around that. But now I no longer care.

Even though I can afford to a lot of ‘stuff’, I have reached a point in my life where spending my money on all kind of physical things no longer excites me. In fact I seem to get a lot more excited when I give my things away than I do when I buy them. I guess this is what happens the moment you begin to understand that you are more than your possessions and that your value doesn’t come from how much ‘stuff’ you have but from who you are internally.

“Out of clutter, find simplicity.” ~ Albert Einstein

We live in a world that teaches us that more is better and that the more we have, the more valuable we become and the better our lives will get. But where is the peace in that?

Where is the peace in always striving and never arriving? Where is the peace in never being satisfied with what you already have and always wanting more, more, more? Where is the peace in allowing your material possessions to control you and your life instead of you being the one in control?

When is enough, enough?

“Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” ~ Lao Tzu

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we should all give our material possessions away and live on the streets. That’s far from it. What I’m saying is that we shouldn’t waste our lives working so hard to make money, just so we can spend those money on gathering a lot of stuff and clutter our lives. There’s more to life than hoarding a lot of ‘stuff’.

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Living in a constant chase to acquire more stuff is exhausting. It makes you think that where you are, who you are and what you now have is never enough and that you should seek to have more, do more and become more.

It’s a trap.

“But here’s the thing–no matter how many possessions you have, you never feel secure. As soon as you get one thing, there is always something else you “need”.” ― Karen Kingston,

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but there are many people who give way too much importance and value to their material possessions. And that’s only because they take their sense of identity, their value and their worth from all of those things.

When you have no idea who you are, and what really means to be a valuable and worthy human being, you can’t help but think that the value and quantity of your stuff says a lot about your value.

“You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.” ~ Maya Angelou

I think it’s very important for people to understand that your value doesn’t come from how much stuff you have, how shiny it all is and how much you paid for it. Your true value comes from the fact that you were once born into this physical world and that you are now living and breathing on this beautiful planet. That’s where your true value comes from.

We are all here for a reason. We are all here because each and every one of us has a purpose to fulfill. And that purpose and that reason isn’t about us gathering a lot of ‘stuff’ and then allowing that ‘stuff’ to clutter our lives and to keep us from walking on our life path.

There’s nothing wrong in having beautiful things and allowing those things to give more meaning and color to your life. But if you fall into the trap of allowing your material possessions to keep you from honoring yourself, your purpose and from creating the life you were meant to create, than that can become a problem.

“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!” ~ Og Mandino

Work on making the relationship you have with yourself and your life path more important than the relationship you have with your material possessions. Never allow your attachment to your material things to keep you from going where your heart wants you to go and from doing the things that your Soul came here to do.

If life ever asks you to relocate. If your hear your heart telling you that you should leave behind the life you are now living and the many material things you are currently clinging on to so that you can start a new life someplace else, dare to listen. Trust the wisdom of your inner voice and trust in the wisdom of life. Because that’s what life is really all about.

“You can only lose what you cling to.” ~ Buddha

Love your things. Let them beautify and give more meaning to your life. But never allow them to get in the way of you living the life you came here to live. Never allow them to burden you, to control you and to keep you from living the simple, beautiful and meaningful life you are meant to live. Never use your attachment to all your physical possessions as an excuse of why you can’t do the things that your heart, soul and intuitions are asking you to do.

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness .” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Is the relationship you have with your ‘stuff’ more important than the relationship you have with your true self and your life purpose? You can share your insights by joining the conversation in the comment section below

With all my love,

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Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 449

In our first two readings today from Proverbs and Psalms we hear how to be good citizens or neighbors. They made me think of the 10 Commandments or the Golden Rule. All very good treatises on how to live as a good neighbor or citizen.

In the Gospel Jesus tells the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.”

Jesus wants us to know that we have wonderful gifts given by God to be used for the uplifting of others. It is about using our gifts of hospitality or compassion, work for the poor or sick. I believe we know what abilities we have, things we do well. They are the gifts we can use to help others.

I’d like to share a bit of a song that I love. It plays on our local Christian Radio Station, it’s by a group called JJ Weeks.

Let Them See You

(chorus)

Let them see You in me let them hear You when I speak
Let them feel You when I sing
Let them see You, let them see You in me

Who am I without Your grace, another smile another face
Another breath a grain of sand passing quickly through Your hand
I give my life an offering take it all take everything. . .

(chorus)

I share this with you because it speaks of what the readings are saying. The Psalmist, the author of Proverbs and Jesus are saying ~ live your life in a good way, be there for your neighbor’s, your friends, your family. Be there for God, talk to God. Most of all, everyone should be able to see God in you by the way you live, work, love and share.

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Gentle is the one who does “not break the crushed reed, or snuff the faltering wick” (Matthew 12:20). Gentle is the one who is attentive to the strengths and weaknesses of the other and enjoys being together more than accomplishing something. A gentle person treads lightly, listens carefully, looks tenderly, and touches with reverence. A gentle person knows that true growth requires nurture, not force. Let’s dress ourselves with gentleness. In our tough and often unbending world our gentleness can be a vivid reminder of the presence of God among us’. Henri Nouwen

Gentle is the one. . . . . Sometimes it is hard to see gentleness in our world today. We are being lambasted with horrific scenes of beheadings and riots, neighborhood shootings, illnesses and it goes on and on.

It is always good to remember the God of Life is with us always. I know, it is difficult sometimes to realize this or even feel God’s presence, but God is in us and for us. Cry out to the heavens to Jesus’ mother asking for her comfort and solace when times get too rough. It could be anything you are going through right now. Give it to God, yell at God if you have to, God has huge shoulders and can handle it. Sometimes we just have to get it off our chest to feel better.

I had a friend who told me that we can’t yell at God. I told her that is it perfectly ok to yell at God. This is how we let God know what is on our mind and heart. If we love God, really love God it is ok to yell. Don’t lovers do the same. You confide to the one who loves you best. . .you yell when you get irritated don’t you? Job questioned God didn’t he? We are no different. . .let God know how you feel and before you know it you are feeling better and I’m willing to bet that God has given you new motivations and ideas to make this life more gentle, more loving, more like God.

“A gentle person knows that true growth requires nurture, not force. Let’s dress ourselves with gentleness. In our tough and often unbending world our gentleness can be a vivid reminder of the presence of God among us.”